


Anticipation

by NaCl1572



Category: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story
Genre: Arc 2 spoilers, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Dark Comedy, F/F, Funny, Gen, Slice of Life, Video Game Mechanics, j4f
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:09:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25706437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaCl1572/pseuds/NaCl1572
Summary: People can die out of sheer boredom. And waiting to be playable can take tons of time.Yuna and Juri have to find ways to kill their time until being promoted to playable themselves.
Relationships: Kasane Ao/Kirari Hikaru (mentioned), Oba Juri/Kureha Yuna (wholesome sisterly love), Promised Blood (general), Tokime Shizuka/Kureha Yuna (brief hints)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to give my thanks to [LazyKatie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyKatie/pseuds/LazyKatie), for checking my work!

"Mirrors..."

"... Ranking...?"

"Yes~!" Mitama, clasping her hands together, answered with a giggle. "I’m busy with overseeing that lately, so my Coordinator Shop has to be in your care for some time."

"But why aren’t you asking anyone but _us_?" Yuna suspiciously asked.

In the main story, they were viewed as the antagonists after all. What was more, they had even received a fairly large amount of dislikes from gamers and fans since the very first chapter. She had the right to doubt.

"It’s better for you two to find some stuff to do, no? It’s been almost a year since your first debut, correct? People can die from boredom, you know~"

Yuna and Juri glanced at each other. Both Ao and Hikaru had been playable for months, and they were probably playing at the beach together in an event by now.

"You just have to sell items to customers, and keep my place clean, that's all! Sometimes I can have you take care of my sister."

Juri halted eating her ice cream. "Any conditions or reward?"

They had to at least eliminate any trace of them being taken advantage of. That Coordinator, they heard rumors about her past when wandering around the city. As a Magical Girl, she broke her neutrality, sided with Kamihama Magical Girls, even joining Kamihama Magia Union after that. As of where they heard them... Uh, rumors, just rumors!

"How about... free adjustings?"

"We have our own, thanks."

Mitama frowned. Did they not like her adjusting style or something? Or they believed in her teacher more? That frown soon returned into a teasing smile. "Hmm... Grief seeds. Is that alright?"

Juri sucked the last part of ice cream that stuck between her fingers, while Yuna glanced at the sight with disgust. Did they just ignore her words on purpose, or were they actually not hearing anything?

Finally, Yuna spoke up. "Fine. If you don’t do as you said, I’ll _kill_ you."

"My, you even put my life on the line? So scary~" Mitama jokingly teased.

After instructing them on how to talk to customers, how to deal with those who don’t pay, where the items were stored, and so forth, Mitama left. Before that, she said.

"You know, I’d also been a NPC until chapter 8 or something. And it took me another year to arrive in NA, so just wait patiently, okay? ^v^"

The door shut. The first and second sister of Promised Blood just stood there, dumbfounded.

_Did she just include an emoticon in her speech?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are patient enough to read my meaningless ramblings, then alright :P  
> The idea of Mitama asked Yuna and Juri to look after her shop in fact was taken from the coordinator pack featuring four main girls from Promised Blood. And the reason is stated above.  
> The number of chapters might be lower, or slightly more than ten, I don't want it to be a slice of life fanfiction (which it really is).


	2. Approvement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Containing spoilers from chapter 1 of Arc 2.

As Mitama was very busy with overseeing the Mirrors Ranking, she usually went home at the end of the day. With that, the Coordinator Shop was temporarily governed by Yuna and Juri, 24/7. Instead of going back to their usual accommodation in Futatsugi City, they would go to Mitama’s (or theirs, as of now) place and spend the rest of the day there.

Fortunately for them, not many customers came here these days, mostly because Mitama announced her business trip firsthand, and perhaps because of that, other Magical Girls went to Livia’s place instead.

That was just a normal day though, the two sat on the couch, playing games. Their phone died, and while waiting for them being charged, they decided to play some board games. Those games were supposed to be Ao’s properties, but they still brought them out anyway. The containers of them were pretty much worn out, but most were quite clean, meaning she had been maintaining their qualities very carefully.

However, there was more stuff than the two expected, so they had to choose. They began to sort countless boxes on the floor.

Juri spoke up first, “Is Monopoly okay?”

Yuna shook her head, “I prefer cards.”

“Those are basically the same!”

“You are associating it with gambling.”

They glared at each other for a while, eventually tossed the monopoly box and the deck of cards aside, and resumed finding a new game.

“Puzzle?”

“Too childish. What about chess?”

“Juri-sama hates mind games.”

Yuna crawled over to the outlet socket, “The batteries aren’t full yet.”

“Mannn! Is finding games to play that hard- Argh!”

Juri sprawled down on the floor, squalling as her back stumbled on some lego pieces. In the corner of her eye, she saw sheets of papers and dices lying across the room.

* * *

“Hey, Nee-san!”

Yuna made a puzzled face upon seeing the other girl bringing papers, pens, scissors and dice out on the desk.

“Are you suggesting we draw, or...?”

“Nah, not that! Wanna play _‘Ask or Dare’_?”

Another question mark was written on Yuna’s face. Juri did not care, beginning to explain.

“So, basically, we’re gonna write some stuff, like, questions you want to ask, tasks for the other people playing to do, and fold them so the things inside can't be seen. Then, use the dice to decide who will answer and do them! Cool, huh?”

“That’s more childish than the puzzle game...”

Juri rolled her eyes, “Just _try_ , okay? Juri-sama and imouto have played them sometimes, they’re quite funny, actually!”

“You and Ao have played that?”

“Yeah, and Horse too.”

By now, Yuna finally felt out of place. A game that Juri knew, Ao knew (obviously), even _Hikaru_ knew, but _she didn’t_?

“Shall we play, then?”

She slowly nodded.

* * *

“Okay, so the odd numbers are yours and the even ones are Juri-sama’s. Clear?”

She nodded again. After some time, all the papers had been torn and cut into pieces, each of them had a line written on it, and they were folded neatly.

The dice was rolled across the floor, and stopped at six. Juri eagerly chose the “Dare” box, and picked a piece of paper. As soon as she opened it, her expression turned into a confused one.

“N-Nee-san?”

“Yeah?”

“Uh... What’s this?”

Inside was a line. Those small, curved letters were obviously Yuna’s writing.

_“Kiss a Bengal tiger.”_

The latter stolidly replied, “Just go to the zoo, there are plenty-”

“BUT THIS GAME IS SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYED INDOORS!”

* * *

Juri had to teach Yuna again. Okay, that was just merely a draft, a rehearsal, or in Ao’s dictionary, _a demo._ They were going to play for real this time.

_“Let me touch your horn.”_

Upon looking at the paper piece, Yuna raised her eyebrow in discomfort, while Juri nodded continuously with a leery smile.

She signed, and reluctantly held out her soul gem to transform. A bright red light illuminated the room, then in place of her school uniform was her magical girl outfit: a sulfur kimono, white shorts underneath and socks with clogs. On top of her head, above where her soul gem rested, was a black, solid horn.

Juri squeaked inaudibly in franticness. As she was about to touch it, there was a sound of the door being opened.

Yuna quickly reverted back to her normal clothes. They both saw Mitama coming in.

“You’re back sooner than I thought.”

“No, I forget some gems, so I come back to get them.” She replied. “Oh, and there are some people coming too.”

 _“Hide”_ was the only word they could think of right now. The two hurriedly packed up things on the floor, throwing it directly under the adjustment table in one definitive move.

Those footsteps that were not Mitama’s were approaching. Not one person, but about _two_ more.

“I wonder if I have an alternate unit soon. Maybe haregi ver?”

_Nanami Yachiyo!_

“I only have a swimsuit costume. Hope the devs fix that bug in the NA server soon... Oh? Why is the door locked all of a sudden? Yakumo, open it up.”

 _Oh?-_ Oh, wrong person. Again, take two.

_Izumi Kanagi!_

Why were they here?

“Coming~” Mitama reached the doorknob, pulling the door open.

“Nooooo! We haven’t hidden yet!”

Too late.

Those two of them came into the room, and stopped their chat immediately, instead their eyes widened with astonishment.

Hidden or not, both Yuna and Juri were in their sight of vision by now.

“ _What_ are _they_ doing here?” Yachiyo spoke up first, her relaxed expression soon became a frown.

“I need a proper explanation as well.” Kanagi followed, slightly glanced in the two’s direction, and turned back to look at Mitama. “Not only are they messing in the neutral zone, yet it seems that you permitted them to do so.”

“Oh, about that?” Mitama scratched her head. “I see they’re quite well-behaved, actually. They even cleaned the place. See?”

Yachiyo facepalmed, “Have you forgotten _everything_ they’ve done? Hurting Felicia, killing a Neo-Magius member, breaking the rules by causing a rampage in Chuo ward, fooling us by faking magic signals. And it’s only in _chapter one_! Good grief that we haven’t faced them in an in-game battle yet.”

“Uh… You don’t need to list _that_ much in detail.” Juri grimaced.

Yuna nodded in agreement, “She just borrows our labor in a couple of days. After that, we’ll leave. It’s no big deal.”

Yachiyo looked Kanagi in the eye, beginning to use telepathy. _“I doubt if they even do the ‘labor’ properly.”_

 _“I read their mind earlier. Surprisingly, all the three are telling the truth.”_ The latter folded her arms in thought. _“Yakumo asked them to take care of her place, and those girls concurred purely out of sheer boredom.”_

_“I know that I can’t pay no mind to it, still… Should we set it aside?”_

_“That is also hard for me. But I quite understand.”_

“Huh?” Yachiyo blurted out loud.

“What I really mean is… I have been a NPC for quite a long period of time, but fortunately for me, my trailer was released just some time later. And they, having to wait for approximately nine months, those must have been a hard time to deal with.”

Kanagi was also unaware that she had delivered a speech out of nowhere to the outsiders. When she realized, all of them had heard it all.

“Um…” Yachiyo turned in the two’s direction. “When will you leave, exactly?”

Yuna replied bluntly. “When we’re playable.”

Kanagi made a move that seemed like rolling her eyes, “That was an indefinite amount of time. But will you promise not to do anything rash until then?”

Juri chortled, “We will. With our own _blood._ No pun intended, really!”

It was not fully resolved yet. However, having validation from two veterans more or less would bring less trouble for them in the future.

Who knows? Perhaps they would become playable in the next event.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought there were a lot of "Oh"s in this chapter, but nope, I can count them with my fingers alone.  
> Although having approvements from two members of KMU in the very first chapter is too rush (and the resolution is too simple), but there are still more and more things to go.  
> It was pretty hard for me to write it properly though. Hope you enjoy!


	3. Caretaking

“Here. Two for each of you.”

Mitama gave them grief seeds as she promised in the prologue. Juri played with them by tossing them between her fingers.

“Okay, so I have another thing for you to do.”

Only this time, the two finally realized aside Mitama and themselves, there was another person sitting across the room. She had the same eye and hair colour as Mitama, but tied into two buns. The girl dangling her legs playfully, “Hello!”

“This is my little sis Mikage, or Mii for short.” After introducing, Mitama looked at them with the most puppy eyes that she could make. “Would you mind looking after her today? I have something to do at school.”

Yeah, she also mentioned that in the prologue.

“Uh… Alright?”

She turned to her sister, “Behave yourself, okay? Don’t bother them like you did with Nayuta-san.”

“But she voluntarily bought sweets for Mii-”

“Don’t ask them to buy food for you, but well, cooking is okay.” She glanced at the clock. “Oops, I gotta go. See you!” and hurriedly rushed through the door, her footsteps echoed through the hallway.

“So...” Juri looked at the people remaining in the room. “What will we do then?”

* * *

The day appeared to be more ordinary than expected, with them doing homework together, watching shows and playing games on their phones.

Suddenly, there was an unintelligible grumble sound.

Mikage scratched her head embarrassingly, “I’m hungry...”

 _I can’t cook…_ Juri puzzled. “What do ya wanna eat?”

“Pink pancakes!”

_Pink pancakes...?_

Yuna joined the conversation, “Is there a recipe for it?”

“There is!” Mikage joyfully answered, showing an image taken from her phone. “That’s neecha’s special recipe!”

The two sisters glanced at each other again. They did not know what it was, but they were somehow feeling some weird sensation in their stomach.

* * *

Mitama’s special pancake recipe was only written in a single paragraph by hand, the ingredients also were not measured thoroughly whatsoever. The only solution was to read it and do it step by step. Juri would read, and Yuna would do according to what the former said.

“Uh… _First, put flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl._ ”

Yuna tacitly followed.

“ _In another bowl_ … _Mix cayenne, paprika, chili powder, hot sauce, tomato paste, gochujang-_ wait, _pink pickled radish..._?”

The two stopped. It seemed that the _“recipe”_ was becoming more and more rum by now.

“Let me read it.” Yuna snatched the phone from Juri’s hand. “ _And in another bowl, put strawberry milk, a tablespoon of pickled radish water, sparkling water, coke, two eggs, red food colouring and stir them completely._ ”

“Who can find _that_ many ingredients?!” Juri put her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes. “What’s next?”

“ _Fry the pancakes in a frying pan with_ ... with _gasoline_ …?”

Juri screamed to the ceiling, “This is getting _ridiculous_!”

“Um… Are you two done?” Mikage’s voice echoed from the main hall. “Is there any way for Mii to help?”

“J-Just… wait a little more!” Juri shouted in return.

They reluctantly followed the recipe, except for the gasoline part. A magical girl’s stomach was more vigorous than a normal human’s after all.

* * *

The last step was to serve the pancakes with strawberries and sprinkle them with chili powder.

They seemed to be worried about Mikage’s health by now. What if she went unconscious after eating _this thing_ ? Or she had to go to the hospital? Or what if she… _died_?

They had promised to Yachiyo and _Oh?-_ _Ahem_ , to Yachiyo and Kanagi that they would cause no harm whatsoever, to anyone or in any way in the last chapter.

Okay, that _“Oh?”_ joke was too outdated by now.

“Should we have a taste test?”

“Nee-san, you don’t mean-”

“Well… Just put it in the Coordinator’s case: What if you just get home from school, and see your little sister struggling between life and death of being poisoned by two caretakers that you trusted?”

“Y-Yeah. If that’s Juri-sama, she also can't stand it.”

“Shall we do it?”

Yuna tremulously picked her fork and knife, slicing a piece.

And shoved it into Juri’s mouth, “I’m sorry.”

Juri tried to resist, but the piece of the pancake (was it even appropriate to call it “pancake” anymore?) was too small that it flowed down to her throat, and to her stomach. She could even feel a bitter aftertaste remained on the tip of her tongue.

It was not just bitter. It was also spicy, yet sweet at the same time. _That might be the taste of the strawberries._

Juri’s consciousness became hazy, as if she was about to release her doppel. Well, she had never done it before, but it could be a simulation for her in the future. Or she should not, for her own good.

* * *

The light blue lights on the ceiling made Juri’s version more dazzled. It seemed like she was lying on the adjustment table.

Then, she saw Mitama, looking at her. When did she come back?

“You’ve awakened, haven’t you? What happened?” She worriedly asked.

“...Is this heaven?”

“Aww~ It seems like your coordinator is so cute that you’ve mistaken her for an angel!”

“Well...” Juri strugglingly sat up. “We had cooked some stuff for err… your sister to eat, and when Juri-sama took a bite, she fainted.”

“Oh, so your cooking skills aren’t that good. I can teach you some tips!”

_“That’s because of your recipe, dammit...”_

“But Mii really enjoyed the meal. So perhaps it was delicious after all.”

Because Mikage had grown up eating her sister’s food, so she was immune to the effects they caused? Juri could not tell.

“Ah, where’s nee-san?”

“You mean Yuna-chan? She has something to do at school, so she left already.”

Juri tried not to groan. She would take revenge on Yuna later. For now…

Her phone rang. It was a message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me almost a day to think of that recipe :'v


	4. PLAYABLE?!

Summer is about bathing in the light golden rays of the sun.

Whoever agreed with that, Yuna swore she would _kill_ them.

The day was scorching hot. That attack when Juri blew fire out of a flamethrower at her in _“Crimson Resolve”_ was much cooler than this.

She could almost pass out from the heat. It was lucky for her that she found a convenient store on the way home from school. She needed to take a rest, or she might faint right in the middle of the road.

After buying a Crunchy Bar, she went out to the bench outside the store and took a seat. There were no breezes, but this place had shade, so it was quite fine for her.

She nibbled at the ice cream only for a couple of seconds, and took a large bite right after that. To her, eating like that could make her feel the crunchiness of it, and it would not melt since she ate it that fast.

There were buzzings from her phone. It was a message from the developers. At first, Yuna thought those were not a big deal, just some spam or such, but as soon as she read the message, she rushed to the main asphalt road at once. _“It might take a sprint to get there”_ , she thought.

* * *

The building, where people were working on the game, was protected by a special barrier where witches could not come in, with various shops selling grief seeds and items. And if a magical girl suddenly witched out, she would release her doppel instead. When a character was promoted to playable, they would receive a notification via message or a phone call to make an appointment.

Inside, air conditioners were mounted on the wall, helping Yuna temporarily escape from the outside heat. She wiped the sweat accumulating on her forehead, and headed to the waiting room after making an appointment via messaging back.

The moment she walked inside, she rethought her statement earlier almost immediately.

There were tents scattered around the hallway, where other magical girls, who were also NPCs like herself, stayed inside. They occasionally went outside to talk to other girls. Yuna wondered if she could go through this maze of chaos.

“Kureha-san!”

She turned to the direction where she was called. The person that she was apparently familiar with.

_Tokime Shizuka._

Shizuka was sitting in a tent nearby, beckoning Yuna to come near her.

She crouched down to fit in the tiny door of the tent, “I can’t believe that the leader of the Tokime clan is staying in a tent like this.”

“Can you please stop provoking me?”

She pretended not to listen, “It’s been a year since your debut, huh?”

“Almost four hundred days. I’ve set up a tent to stay, so when there's news of me being playable, I can come right away.”

Yuna crawled into the tent, “Being meguca is suffering.”

“I even celebrated my birthday here. Want some cake?”

“Sure.”

* * *

“So...” Shizuka spoke up. “There was a letter sent to you, right?”

“A text.”

“Yeah, I need someone to teach me about those terms... and English...”

The two were sitting inside the tent, enjoying the simple strawberry shortcake that Shizuka offered. It was true that Yuna had eaten two popsicles, but her stomach was not so small that she couldn’t eat some more.

“Well, I think I should go.” She stood up after finishing the treat. “Wish me luck.”

Shizuka giggled, “Yeah, good luck. I wonder what your wish is.”

“You’ll know it soon.”

* * *

Despite Yuna's expectations, the meeting was not that tense. She felt like it was the same as booking a hotel room.

The receptionist, who was a whole blue silhouette like the sprite of a minor character, politely said, “Good morning. I see that you want to make an appointment.”

“Yes,” She held up her phone. “There was a message sent to me, and...”

“So you are a character.” He took out a pen and a piece of paper. “I’d like you to fill this form. Please write your name, the time of your debut, and your notes as well if you wish.”

“Thank you.”

After doing the aforementioned task, she gave the form to the receptionist.

“I have to make a call to confirm your information. Would you mind waiting for a moment?”

“Sure.”

Yuna decided to call Juri, as after eating that nasty pancake, she received a message from her teacher, telling her to go to school immediately, so she did not know how she was since then. But that was not necessary as of now.

 _Speak of the devil,_ She thought.

Juri ran up to the receptionist and requested an appointment like she did before. It looked as if she had never eaten that pancake in the first place.

“Ah, nee-san!”

The two then sat together, waiting.

Yuna asked, “How’s your stomach?”

“It still aches, but not that much.” The other hissed lightly. “Juri-sama will talk about that later. But hey! We’re going to be playable!”

“Yeah, we should think about our Connect lines.”

Juri jumped from her seat, “Something cool like _‘Well done!’_ ”

“What’s with that pose?”

* * *

“Can you… say it again?”

“This is the fourth time, but… Alright.” The receptionist became more confused with each passing second. “We have made a mistake. The two of you aren’t playable just yet.”

“ _What_ mistake, to be exact?”

Juri mimicked a wiping sweat meme, _“Uh-oh...”_

“We wrote the wrong name and sent the wrong message. It’s supposed to be ‘Kaharu Yuuna’, but we accidentally write your name instead...”

“Have you run out of names already, you dolt?”

Yuna’s bangs were covering all her face, so it was hard to know what her expression really was.

“Do you know how much time I have to wait?”

Magical girls were forbidden to transform in the territory of the building, and Yuna would not break the rules. Still, a heap of vituperation stuck in her throat, urging her to spat at them.

“A fucking Kyuubey is playable, but not _us_?”

Juri decided to stepped in, “Nee-san, isn’t it too much OOC-”

Yuna did not say anything. She kicked the reception desk in response, making a rackety sound. Feeling some kind of heat coming from Yuna’s direction, Juri began to back off.

However, for some unknown reasons, Yuna finally calmed down in mere seconds, heaving a sigh. “Sorry, I lost my temper.”

The receptionist, who was about to call securities, trembled a little, “I-It’s okay...”

* * *

Still, they had not gone home yet.

“How could you calm down that fast?” Juri asked. “And why are we whispering? We have telepathy.”

“Maybe because there are ACs.” Yuna whispered in return, which made her voice even more quiet than usual. “And can you just shut up for a bit? We’re spying.”

The two were crouching on the floor, beneath the reception desk. As Yuna anticipated, the person who had almost the same name as hers had been called, and came in after a while.

First, there was the sound of the engine. A jet black car parked near the building.

Juri gasped, “Isn’t that a fucking _limo_?”

The driver came out with a parasol, and opened the door. A tall girl wearing a green and white uniform came out with another two bodyguards, one was given the parasol by the driver, and used that to shade the girl from the heat.

Yuna crouched down harder. Juri wondered, “What are you doing?”

“Finding my jaw. It dropped.”

Those three people came inside the building together.

They saw the girl talking to the receptionist, and was guided inside alone. Yuna quickly followed while Juri repeatedly screamed _“Wait for me!”_ through telepathy.

Hidden by a thick curtain, the place where that girl - Yuuna, not Yuna - walked in, was a dark room, and a huge gate at the end. They barely recognised anything until the door was opened, behind it was a large, immeasurable void, like each time when a player rolls for a character or memoria.

“My,” Yuna exclaimed. “When I first came here, I imagined something else behind that curtain, but not _this..._ ”

“Isn’t that just too… _meta_?”

From afar, Yuuna showed something to the person who guarded the gate, who was a silhouette as well, but green instead of blue. He let her in, and closed the gate. The room was dark once again.

Juri grabbed her sister’s shoulder, “Is she… gone?”

“I wonder if she will ever come back...”

“What about imouto and Horse? And Ranka, and Sakuya...”

They began to tremble uncharacteristically. There were no calls from them since they weren’t playable either.

Where would the playable characters be… after walking through that gate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't that long, but it still took me time to somehow makes the sentences somehow, _somehow_ , make more sense.  
> I actually planned the gate scene about months ago, I suppose? Luckily I could describe it base on my thoughts and imaginations alone, but it needs to amend more though.


	5. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to the shut down of NA server and I lost motivations back then, this has been on hiatus for months... until now. This chapter is an interlude, so it might be quite uneventful.

Since witnessing the scene when a character was promoted to playable, Yuna and Juri tried to call their teammates who also had the same status after going home.

Yet no one,  _ no one _ picked up. After the numbers of the calls had reached their _ third  _ digit.

The battery began to wear thin. Yuna had no choice but to reluctantly plug it into the charger.

She remembered what Ao and Hikaru said when the news had been delivered to them.

_ “No! Hikaru doesn’t want to be playable without her superiors!” _

_ “Hikaru’s left, and now me? My sisters will bicker every day after this~” _

If only, _ if only _ … She had agreed with them and let them stay for a little longer...

Then she turned to Juri’s direction, “Can you please stop being a crybaby and lend me your phone?”

On the couch, the latter was weeping uncontrollably, holding her phone in one hand while the other was wiping her tears. Juri was wearing earphones, unaware of what was happening around her.

_ “Ah, so she’s also worried about them.” _

However, after a second glancing at the phone screen, Yuna immediately dispeled the thought and snatched it from Juri’s hand, along with the earphones.

“So  _ that’s _ why you’ve been crying the whole time?!”

On the screen was a movie scene where the main character cried on her lover’s deathbed after the man whispered _“I love you”_ and passed away with a smile.

“Wait! Juri-sama has to watch the next ep-”

“ _ No. _ ” She punctuated with an uncharacteristically loud and harsh tone, which made Juri sit upright and wiping any remaining tears on her face. “Now isn’t the time to mess with your romance stuff.”

“F-Fine.” The latter pouted, scratching her head. “But… by now there are lots of events right? What if they’re busy and can’t answer the calls?”

“It can be. Perhaps I shouldn’t worry too much.”

Yuna sat on the couch, beside Juri. The latter offered her an earphone bud, “Wanna watch together?”

These romance movies were Juri’s favourite. A little bit cheesy, but still...

She took the bud, “Sure.”

* * *

“OH MY GOSH I’m late!”

Juri only managed to grab her soul gem on the desk and put it inside her bag and frantically ran through the door, her clothes unbraced, a slice of toast in her mouth.

_ Like a typical shoujo manga protagonist. _

Yuna also picked up her soul gem. Today was Sunday, but whatever. Just let Juri do what she wanted.

Somehow she felt… strange. The gem’s colour was the same blood red, yet the emblem was not hers.

Suddenly, everything went black.

* * *

When coming back to consciousness, Yuna found herself lying on the couch, with Juri also lying in the opposite.

The redhead started to groan, her eyes slowly opened. She sat up, scratching her head, “Huh? Why am I here?”

“Oh sillies, how could you mistakenly take each other's' soul gem like that?”

“WOAH!”

Juri flabbergasted at Mitama suddenly appearing next to her. Or rather, she had sat there already, but she did not notice.

So the two made a mistake earlier. The colour of their soul gems was almost the same after all. Had it not for Mitama’s help, their bodies would have been rotten by this point.

“Um… You took our bodies back to the place, aren’t you?” Yuna spoke up. “Thank you for that.”

“Ah-ah-ah.” The coordinator wiggled her index finger, saying in a sing-song voice. “The people that you should thank are-”

The door was slammed open. Two concerning, yet familiar faces, rushed in.

“Nee-sama, nee-chan!”

Ao was about to go in, but the other person was faster than her, clopping with over-actively speed. Hikaru kneeled on the ground, burying her face onto Yuna’s lap with her face covered with tears and snot.

“Oh my gosh Yuna-san I thought you were dead you made me so worried you finally wake up Hikaru’s so so so so so glad-”

_ “She doesn’t even need a single coma...” _

Juri found herself being ignored. Ao walked up to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, “Well, it’s good that you’re okay~ You made me worried- Eh?”

The blunette halted. She saw Juri’s eyes watered as well.

“And I-I thought you wouldn’t come back!”

She jumped onto Ao, hugging her like a kid seeing their long-lost stuffed animal again, crying like a baby. The latter, although she did not understand anything, still reciprocated the hug.

And now, it was Mitama’s turn to feel ignored. She went to the door, “Well, since Mii’s implemented, I think I’m gotta check on her.” and tiptoed out, giving the four girls’ their own privacy.

* * *

“So after the events, there were Kimochis. _ Lots _ of Kimochis.”

Juri “Oooh” with twinkles in her eyes, while Yuna nodded vigorously.

Hikaru continued, “And Hikaru appears  _ twice _ in pickup gacha, since Light supports are very essential in those battles!”

The two faces become sullen right after. Ao whispered, “Don’t say that!”

“Gah, I’m sorry...”

And more and more stories were told. Hikaru went to the restroom for some work. As Ao said, after going through the gate, Magical Girls would receive a certain test to see how they would fight, like a mock battle before really coming out in-game like fighting familiars, which were quite easy and everyone could survive those fights. Yuna jolted down notes while Juri replied that she would train more until that day came.

However, the four did not stay together for long.

“Another raid? Wait, so the devs really slap events repeatedly in our faces like that?”

“Yeah, I wish I could’ve gone back to the time as a NPC.” Ao sighed. “We gotta go… I dunno, now?”

Hikaru rushed back to the room, “Hikaru’s ironed your clothes, polished your shoes, cooked some meals and put them in the fridge as well! Hope you won’t have to eat Yakumo-san’s food again.”

“So you didn’t go to the WC?!”

* * *

“Is it okay for you to go in the middle of the night?” Yuna asked concernedly. “You can go tomorrow.”

“No worries! I have Hikaru here to protect me!”

The ponytail girl chipperly saluted, “Yep! Hikaru will do her best to keep Ao-san away from harm!”

Yuna patted the younger girls’ head one last time, albeit having to tiptoe as of her height, “Hope that we can be together soon. I mean, in-game.”

“Yeah.”

“But what if...” Juri held her chin in dubitation. “We won’t be playable until Chapter 10?”

“SHUT UP!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Juri canonically reads romance manga, I just don't know if she likes them or not lol


	6. New Year's game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! Although a little late lol. I hope Juri and Yuna will be released within 2021.  
> Also, the words in bold are spoken in English. To those have watched "Asobi Asobase", Fujiwara has the same VA as Shizuka, so it's better to imagine Shizuka saying those in English words in Fujiwara's voice.

“C’mon Nee-san, wake up.”

“No...”

After endless effort of waking Yuna up (without violence of course, Juri did not want bad omens), the two began to do things that they had listed for the new year.

“It’s the first morning of New Year, how can you just sleep in like that?”

Both of them, wearing their winter clothes instead of the usual uniform, strolling along the road to Mizuna shrine. Yuna was still yawning, the bags under her eyes became more visible than ever.

“Then who was the one who forced me to stay up until midnight for the countdown, huh?” She replied with a sleepy voice.

“But it was  _ your _ choice to drink  _ three cans _ of  _ black _ coffee!”

Finally, they arrived at the destination. The shrine was packed with people coming in and out. Two priestesses stood at the gate, greeting people passing by. Wait, aren’t they the Tamaki sisters?

“Another duo...” Yuna bit her nails.

“Whatever, just pray.” Juri dragged the former to the waiting line. “Hope we have nice Connects.”

Finally, their turn came. Both of them put cash in the money-box, rang the bell thrice, clapped twice, and prayed.

_ “Please give me nice Connect and SE skills… also, have my dad appear in my MSS too.” _

That was what Juri said in her mind. She wondered what Yuna prayed for.

She opened her eyes to see the latter’s face, also her eyes closed, but her brows furrowed, as if wishing for something serious.

She lightly wiped her sweat. What exactly did Yuna pray for? The annihilation of Kamihama magical girls? Her Connect to have skills that no other magical girls have?

_ “I want to have the same cup size as Ao’s… No, as the Coordinator’s. Her’s is more round.” _

No, Yuna would never say it.  _ Ever. _

After that, they came back to the shop to see if there were any presents for them. To their surprise, there were.

Well, they were popular after all, both by fame and disreputableness.

First up were their teammates’ presents.

Ao gave each of them 25MP and a set of game controllers. The latter was fine, but the former…

_ “Aren’t they just technically impurities?!” _

Sakuya’s presents were two yellow cloak thingies, along with a small note.

_ “Guys, Idk if you’ll have 2 Charge discs or more, but just have this in advance! _

_ Hope you’ll join us and achieve salvation for the Chargius! >:D” _

_ “What the heck was that?” _

Hikaru had been busy with Kimochis, so she could only apologize via emails. Ranka gave each of them a plushie. They were Snaa-like, but had the same appearance as their owners instead.

“I’m gonna call you ‘Jrii’...”

“What did you say?”

“What? You must be hearing things!”

* * *

“Hello~”

Mitama, no,  _ Haregi _ Mitama came with a basket of stuff in hand. It contained various foods and vegetables. Hopefully she would not make that nasty soup again. The pink pancakes were more than enough.

Also, there were two girls coming with her as well.

Both were from the Tokime Clan.

Shizuka, upon seeing them, flabbergasted, “Why are they here, Yakumo-san?  **Why?** ”

“You’re speaking English out of nowhere again!”

Surprisingly, Sunao was with her, but Chiharu was absent.

“Well, you see, I’ve found an interesting game, but it needs at least four people...”

“And you added  _ us  _ to the equation?” Juri spoke up.

“I’m gonna be the judge, as I’m neutral after all~” Mitama said jokingly, pulling out an A4 sheet of paper. “It’s pretty simple, but I need two teams of two. Hmm...”

Shizuka began to cling onto Sunao, “Let us be together,  **please** !”

“Why are you speaking English words out of nowhere?!”

Mitama put a finger to her chin, deep in thought, “Hmm~ Yuna-chan and Shizuka-chan in one team, and the other two in one team. It’s decided!”

* * *

Each of the divided pairs stood together on the paper, glaring at each other. Shizuka was restraining herself from doing Hitomi-awase on Yuna, while Sunao did not even look Juri in the eyes.

Of course, anyone of them could protest, but as there were traps inside the place, doing so was not a best choice. The traps could be activated if anyone went against the lovely Coordinator.

“First, let’s do a small test. Can each two of you stand in one sheet so no parts of your feet are outside it?”

They reluctantly did so. And they were so close.  _ Extremely close. _ But at least all four pairs of feet were inside the paper.

“Good! So here are the rules!” Mitama took one sheet of paper as an example. “We’ll have three rounds. You have to somehow get both feet of each member inside the space of the paper for ten seconds. If you can’t, you’re out. Each time…” She tore the sheet in half. “...The difficulty will increase, so do your best~!”

There was only one word inside their head right now.

_ “WHAT?!” _

Oh, Shizuka thought it in English, by the way.

“Also, the losing team will receive a penalty~”

As if some kind of switch snapped inside Juri, she pumped up her fist, eyes burning with determination.

“We can’t lose to them! Let’s go, Suneo!”

“It’s Sunao…!”

* * *

First round was relatively easy. But they had to stand really close to each other, supporting each other from falling.

_ “My virgin body...” _ Shizuka thought in tears.

“Oh my gosh! Suneo, your hair smells damn nice!” Juri said to her teammate’s ear, as they were hugging each other. “What kind of shampoo do you use?”

“I told you, my name is  _ Sunao _ !”

Second round. The paper was torn in half.

As Yuna’s foot size was quite small, she could easily step on Shizuka’s feet, although the latter had to yelp in pain for ten seconds.

“I wish I hadn’t shared my cake with you back then!”

“Shut up.”

* * *

Third round.

“This is even smaller than my foot!” Juri pointed to the paper using her middle finger. “How can we get through this?!”

Mitama just giggled, “Come on, I know you’re a smart girl~”

After thinking for a bit, Juri snapped her knuckles, “Suneo, have you eaten much sweets this month?”

“How many times do I need to correct it?!” Sunao was frustrated by now. “Also, why are you asking me that, it’s private!”

“Because Juri-sama needs to do… THIS!”

The redhead held onto Sunao, carrying her… bridal style. Also, she tiptoed with one foot as well.

Both Yuna and Shizuka were in complete shock. Mitama only said “Wow” flatly.

Juri regretted her decision, “Why... are you so... damn… heavy...?!”

“Woah, I apologize for that...!” Sunao was still blushing.

“No… I can’t lose like this!” Suddenly, the leader of the Tokime clan stepped onto the paper, squatting down. “Kureha-san, let me piggyback you!”

“Huh…?”

“Or  _ you _ will be the one carrying me!”

“F-Fine.” Yuna reluctantly did so. “I can’t believe that Flame attribute girls are  _ this _ bold...”

* * *

In the end, the game ended with a tie.

Also, Juri’s hands needed to be wrapped in a cast for a week.

“Seems like I need to lose weight...” Sunao was a little bit annoyed by the former’s actions earlier, but was still worried for her.

Shizuka said to Yuna, “I can’t believe you’re so light.”

“Yeah, whatever.”


End file.
